Coraline Jones

Played By:Dakota Fanning"I'm Coraline Jones. I've got so much to tell you."

Accidental Misnaming: When she first meets Wybie he calls her "Caroline" even after she corrects him. This is a Running Gag with the other neighbors as well.

Adaptation Dye-Job: Actually dyed in-universe, as we see her with brown hair in an old photograph. In the novel, she didn't dye her hair at all, and just like the movie, it was brown.

Adaptational Villainy: Downplayed. In the book, Coraline was polite and well-mannered, if exasperated by her parents' absences. In the movie, Coraline is a lot more snarky, abrasive, and rude to her parents, neighbors, and Wybie.

Cassandra Truth: Tries to tell Wybie about the Other Mother, but he doesn't believe her. Which is understandable, because no one would. But he does believe her after seeing a picture from his grandma.

Character Development: Gains a better appreciation towards her parents,neighbors, and Wybie. Ultimately learning that "a perfect world" doesn't exist and that being with the real people who care for her is the only thing that matters.

Color Motifs: Blue. She dyes her hair blue and the shirt she's mostly seen with in marketing is a long-sleeved, blue shirt with silver stars.

Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Although very busy with her work as a gardening catalogue editor, Mel loves Coraline very much despite the lack of time and attention she gives her daughter as depicted when Coraline shared to her that she almost fell in a well. As a mother she cares deeply for her daughter and even tried to make it up to her by telling Coraline that she could pick something she liked in the grocery, but was very dismayed when Coraline was still upset with her that she denied.

Noodle Incident: The exact circumstances of how she got the neckbrace. Her dialogue with Coraline implies it was the result of a car accident.

Not Now, Kiddo: Her (initial) relationship with Coraline when they first move.

When You Coming Home, Mom?: Played with. Upset with lack of attention from her workaholic parents, Coraline is ensnared into the seductive world of the Other Mother where Coraline gets everything she wants and her parents exist only to please her. It's later revealed to be a honey trap, as the Other Mother is actually a creature that feeds on children's souls. It is implied that her parents at the start of the movie are close to an important deadline and are not workaholics. They also just moved into a new house, which partly explains Coraline's resentment — she was also upset that her parents had her leave behind her old friends and home.

Papa Wolf: In the book version, Coraline tells the Cat a story of how she and her father stumbled into some bees, her father told Coraline to run, while he stayed behind to be the one getting the majority of the bee stings.

When You Coming Home, Dad?: Played with. Upset with lack of attention from her workaholic parents, Coraline is ensnared into the seductive world of the Other Mother where Coraline gets everything she wants and her parents exist only to please her. It's later revealed to be a honey trap, as the Other Mother is actually a creature that feeds on children's souls. It is implied that her parents at the start of the movie are close to an important deadline and are not workaholics. They also just moved into a new house, which partly explains Coraline's resentment — she was also upset that her parents had her leave behind her old friends and home.

Wyborne "Wybie" Lovat

Played By: Robert Bailey Jr. "Hm. It's not real scientific, but I heard an ordinary name like Caroline can lead people to have ordinary expectations about a person."

Ambiguously Brown: Wybie is a very pale African-American with brown curly hair. It's possible he's actually mixed-race; his grandmother is more obviously black. In a deleted scene Coraline asks Wybie if his grandmother was Black, Wybie said she was.

Badass Adorable: In the climax, he saves Coraline from being killed by the Other Mother's hand.

Badass Biker: Going with the above trope, Wybie does this while riding his motorcycle.

Nice Guy: He never gets mad or insults Coraline for deliberately miswording his name, tells her about the poison oak she's holding, gives her the "mini" doll of herself, and valiantly comes to her rescue.

Only Friend: The only one around Coraline's age who she befriends, if slowly.

Red Is Heroic: Wybie owns a red bike, a genuinely Nice Guy, and saved Coraline from the Other Mother's hand.

Ship Tease: With Coraline. Especially since the little punch she give to him in the end is similar to Coraline's mother's punch to her father.

Socially-Awkward Hero: Heavily implied. He is rather bold with his words, and only reacts to what he says after he says them, as shown when he said something about Coraline's name and when he called her crazy when she told him about his grandmother's missing twin sister.

Spanner in the Works: If Wybie hadn't had showed up like he did, the Other Mother probably would've won.

Character Exaggeration: In the book, Mr. Bobo simply happens to be Slavic (Russia isn't even mentioned, actually); it's not even implied that he has an accent until Misses Spink and Forcible happen to talk about him near the end of the book. However, the movie makes Bobinsky extremely weird and extremely Russian.

Speaks Fluent Animal: It is hinted he actually can communicate with his rats. As at one point he comments on how the rats keep calling Coraline by its actual pronunciation where Bobinsky fully believes her name is actually Caroline and knows about the other world.

Button Eyes of Evil: The trait shared by all Other World inhabitants. The Uncanny Valley aside, it's the first indicator that the Other Mother, and her world for that matter, aren't all they seem.

Creative Sterility: She can only copy and transform what already exists, hence why there's nothing beyond the garden in her world. It becomes a plot point in the novel when Coraline notices a snow globe on the mantle, which isn't there in the real world. It's where her parents are being held.

Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: She makes The Other Father, and The Other Wybie too well. They love Coraline and don't want to see any harm come to her, regardless if she instructs them to. They actively resist their creator even at the cost of their own existences.

Her need to gloat over her victory when Coraline says her parents are behind the door between worlds at The Climax is what leads to her opening the door for Coraline, in essence engineering her escape.

One-Winged Angel: Over the course of the movie the Other Mother progressively gets more monstrous. She starts as a copy of Coraline's real mother, then gets thinner, spindlier and overall wicked-looking. By the end of the movie she reveals her true form - a spindly spider-human hybrid with cracked porcelain skin, metal legs and hands with claws made of sewing needles.

Parental Substitute: She acts like this to the children... until she feasts on their souls and then disposes of them.

Please Don't Leave Me: She screams this - alternated with "I'LL DIE WITHOUT YOU!" - at Coraline when she leaves the Other World for the last time.

Self-Made Orphan: Semi-subverted. She has put her Mother to the grave, "And when I caught her trying to crawl out, I put her back in". So her mother perhaps isn't exactly dead, but for all intents and purposes, she is.

The Sociopath: Pretends to be a loving mother when she in fact wishes to suck the life out of children and sew buttons in their eyes, which she plans to do to Coraline.

Sore Loser: In the book, after Coraline finds the first soul, she sends a strong wind - indoors - to slow her down. She also has no intention of letting Coraline go, whether she wins or not.

Supreme Chef: The foods she creates are stated to be much better than Coraline's father's cooking.

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